Yaakov’s berachot to his sons usually highlight each shevet’s unique personality. But when he reaches Shimon and Levi, something strange happens. He gives them a joint blessing, and it barely sounds like a blessing at all. Why would Yaakov group these two brothers together? And why does he describe their anger as something foreign to Klal Yisrael? Even more puzzling, why does Moshe later give Levi one of the most beautiful blessings in the Torah while giving Shimon none at all?
In this episode I explore the deeper story behind these two shevatim. Rashi points out that Shimon and Levi acted together at Shechem and in the plot against Yosef. They shared a single personality as a pair, not simply as individuals. Through the stories of Zimri, Korach, and the selling of Yosef, Rashi paints a picture of a dangerous partnership built on planned anger and group identity. But if that is true, how did Levi become the shevet of kohanim while Shimon faded into near silence? And what does the Rambam mean when he says Yaakov appointed Levi as the rosh yeshiva long before his death?
By tracing the clues through Bereishit, Shemot, Bamidbar, Devarim, Midrash, and Rambam, I show how Shimon and Levi’s destinies diverged once they were separated. Levi learned how to channel the same fiery energy toward avodat Hashem, while Shimon never transformed his middah. Yaakov’s blessing, Moshe’s blessing, and all the stories in between fit together as one long narrative of potential, danger, teshuvah, and leadership.
World of Medrash uncovers the hidden structure behind Rashi and the Midrash and reveals the deeper stories shaping the Chumash.
A continuation of the prior shiur
10 shiurs in 1. Actually, in 2.
All based on one Rashi that I think you need the World of Medrash to explain
Continues from the prior shiur
To some degree, this shiur develops the ideas from the Gan Eden series about serving God from love.
This is the fourth shiur in the Gan Eden series
This is the third shiur in the Gan Eden series
The second shiur in the Gan Eden series that began with "Adam And Chava's Sin Of Removing the Clothes"
There is a detail in the opening chapters of Bereishit that almost everyone reads without noticing how strange it really is. The Torah says Adam and Chava were naked and not embarrassed. Later, after the sin, the Torah says God made them clothes. So why does Rashi insist that the clothing actually belonged to an earlier story? Why would God create garments of honor for Adam and Chava before they ever sinned? And if they already had clothes, how did the nachash see them exposed and acting in a way that provoked his plan?
In this episode I explore the surprising chronological structure hidden in the pesukim. Rashi shows that the Torah interrupts the story of woman’s creation with the story of the nachash and then loops back to continue the earlier narrative. Once the real sequence becomes clear, new questions emerge. What were these clothes meant to teach Adam and Chava? Why were they removed? And what does their removal reveal about Adam’s understanding of his dual nature as both a thinking being and an instinctual creature?
I also look at Rashi’s two explanations of the garments themselves. Were they skintight like a second skin or soft like rabbit fur? What do these images convey about kavod ha’adam, tzniut, and the life God intended for man before the yetzer hara entered the picture?
World of Medrash uncovers how Rashi and the Midrash reveal the hidden structure beneath the Chumash and show how each detail contributes to a unified and meaningful story.
An ancient prophecy playing out in time
What was Yosro's role? An interesting idea.
This should be listened to after the episode "The Menorah for Bnei Yisroel."
Using Medrash Tanchuma
A look at a unique moment in history
A surprising discovery when you realize what Rashi's doing
Fascinating combination of Chumash/Rashi and Halacha
Spin off of the central Rashi from "Kapparah through Moshe, Aharon, and the Mishkan"
The eighth day of the Mishkan’s inauguration should have been the most straightforward moment in the Torah. After seven days of preparation, Aharon brings every korban exactly as commanded, blesses the nation, and everyone waits for the Shechinah to descend. But nothing happens. Why would the climax of the Mishkan fail? And why does Rashi say that Moshe suddenly went into the Ohel Moed to teach Aharon the ketoret? What ketoret was left to teach? The daily incense should have been done hours earlier. Why would it matter now?
In this episode I trace one of the strangest narrative puzzles in Sefer Shemot and Sefer Vayikra. The Torah describes the inauguration twice, once from Moshe’s perspective and once from Aharon’s. The instructions for the ketoret appear in an unexpected place. The first true korban tamid is separated from the seven days that came before it. And the pesukim describing God’s presence settling on the Mishkan seem to contradict the timing described in the next chapter. What is really happening here? And why did Moshe have to be the first to perform every avodah of the Mishkan before Aharon could take over?
I explore how Rashi and the Midrash reveal a hidden layer of meaning behind this moment. The missing ketoret, the unexpected delay, the embarrassment of the people, and Moshe’s sudden tefillah all come together to explain the exact moment God allowed His presence to return to Israel after the sin of the egel.
World of Medrash uncovers the deeper story behind Rashi and the Midrash and shows how the Torah’s narratives contain layers of meaning waiting to be uncovered.
Why does the Torah spend so much time describing the mann? It is one of the longest sustained miracle stories in the Chumash, yet the more you read the pesukim, the stranger it becomes. Why did God insist on giving the mann only one day at a time? Why did it always look the same no matter what it tasted like? And what does any of this have to do with the matzah that Bnei Yisrael took out of Egypt?
In this episode I explore a surprising Midrash that links three completely different foods: the miraculous mann in the midbar, the matzah of Yetziat Mitzrayim, and the challah we separate from our dough. At first glance they have nothing in common. But Rashi and Chazal show that they are all part of one long educational process, teaching Bnei Yisrael how to understand their own desires. Why did the matzah last exactly thirty days? Why does the Torah call it lechem oni? And why is the mitzvah of challah triggered the moment we enter Eretz Yisrael?
By tracing these questions through Shemot, Devarim, Midrash, and Ramban, I uncover a larger story about appetite, fantasy, self control, and what it means to grow into a nation capable of receiving the Torah.
World of Medrash is where I explore the deep narrative inside Rashi and the Midrash, uncovering the hidden structure behind the Torah’s most familiar stories.